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Memory Lane
Saturday 16
August: Barry Dyksman's 1967 Photos
Saturday 9
August: Teacher looks up old friends from the 1960s
Saturday 9 August: Thorogood hosted by Library & Museum
Saturday 26 July: Picnic wraps up
reunion
Saturday 19 July: Weaving class at Ngatangiia School in
1940s
Saturday 5 July: Mangaia welcomes NZ Governor General
Saturday 28 June: The day a truck
arrived on Mangaia
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Barry
Dysksmans' 1967 Photos
Saturday 16 August: |
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These photo have been provided by
former Tereora College commerce teacher Barry Dyksman, who visited
Rarotonga at the beginning of the month.

Barry Dyksman as best man at Trevor
and Vaine Clarke’s wedding on 22 April 1967. The flower girls are
Janette Browne (nee Estall) and Lafala Keenan. |
To the right:
3A class in 1967 - back row from left.
Geoffrey Davis,
Tepoave Raitia, Nooroa Teariki, Ken Buchanan, Philip Nicholas, Peter
Taripo, Joseph Iosua, Teinakore Vainerere, Fred Charlie. Second row from
back, Warrick Jackson, Teremoana Tangiiti, Terepai Teiti, Teokotai Tuaivi,
Harry Ivaiti, Carl Price, Solomona Terae, William Powell, Ronald Powell,
teacher Barry Dyksman. Seated from left, Tereapii Mokoenga, Melanie
Matareu, Tungane Ponia, Vainetutai A, Tungane Tangi, Stella Samuela,
Tiavake Ben, Akakoromaki M, Ngametua Matenga, Maryanne Hewett. In front,
Mene Kotiau, Rere Mataio, Mii Teariki, Angeline Samuel, Tangata Teio. |
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To the left: from
the left
Barry Dyksman,
Kao Marurai, Robert Woonton, Lester Dean, (student), and teacher
Dawson Murray. |
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Teacher
looks up old friends from the 1960s
Saturday 9 August: |

Former Tereora College teacher Barry Dyksman was
(above) on Rarotonga recently catching up with friends, teachers and students from the past.
Dyksman taught commerce studies at Tereora from 1966 to 1970 and returned to New Zealand in January 1971. It is the first time that he has been back on Rarotonga since then.
"I just thought it would be nice to come back and see Tereora, and catch up with old friends and pupils - unfortunately some have passed away which was disappointing."
But while here he caught up with students like Harry Ivaiti, Kao Marurai, Teremoana
Unuia, Makiuti Tongia, Rutera Taripo, Pare (Browne) Maui and Nandi
Glassie. |
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Class photo taken
in 1966 or 1967 – back row from left.
Mareara Teariki, Tutai Teata, Unlucky Tungata, Mataira Ake, John
Manuel, John Teao, Morris Samuel, Maao Vaireka, Nandi Tuaine (Glassie),
Nooapii Tangata, Matamaru Tongia. Middle row – Moeroa Samuel,
Tangimama Pukeiti, Vaine Putere, Pare Browne, Barry Dyksman,
Nootu Rarima, Mere Noo, Makiroa Tauri, Tangitamaiti Vaiimene.
Front row – Alice Story, Taamo Teaukura, Rosemarie Taripo, Tupu
Arakua, Ake Aitu. |
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1969 rugby team
– back row from left
Tepoave Raitia, Nandi Glassie, Tere Nicholas, George Hosking, Ken
Buchanan, Henry Nicholas, George Michael, Teati Mokoroa, Are Tutu
Tini, Barry Dyksman. In front Peter Taripo, Joseph Mato,
Peter Tuaere, Robert Joe Papa, Tangimetua Tangatatutai, Teina
Vainerere, Harry Ivaiti. |
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He also met up with former teachers Peter Etches and June Baudinet, and was hosted by Trevor Clarke and his wife
Vaine. Dyksman was best man at their wedding. Dyksman has happy memories of his time at
Tereora, helping to set up the tuck shop, coaching rugby and also assisting the chess club.
When he returned to New Zealand, he taught at schools right around the country and worked for the education ministry, before retiring about 10 years ago. - Moana Moeka'a |
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Thorogood hosted
by Library & Museum
Saturday 9 August: |
Rev Bernard Thorogood was hosted to morning tea by the library and museum society and volunteers, while on the island recently. Thorogood served with the London Missionary Society in the Cook Islands between 1953 and 1970. He was last in Rarotonga three years ago and at the time he spoke at the library and museum about life in the Cooks in the 1950s and 1960s. He currently lives in Sydney, Australia. He is pictured above with, from left, Matilda Tairea, patron Ron Crocombe, library assistant Sally Voss, library coordinator/curator Jean Mason and president Gordon Sawtell.
- Moana Moeka'a
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Below: Rev Bernard Thorogood (pictured second from
right)

Left: Rev Thorogood (at right) pictured at the opening of the Ruatonga meeting house on 24 October 1957. |
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Picnic
wraps up reunion
Saturday 26 July: |
More than 800 members of the Wichmann-Bambridge family will be heading to the beach today for a family picnic and to enjoy their last scheduled event together.
The family members enjoyed a two-day reunion this week which gave the youngsters the chance to get to know their fellow family members and more importantly, the opportunity for everyone to strengthen ties between them.
The family are descendants of William Wichman and Martha Bambridge and come from New Zealand, Australia, Tahiti, Hawaii, the United States, and of course, from throughout the Cook Islands.
Featured here are photos of some of their ancestors whose stories were told during the two-day reunion.
Right: (from left) Norma who
is married to Lucky Mave of Ngatangiia, Tina Wichman and Takau
Areora who is a family member on the Wong Soon side. |
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Far Left: Anautoa
Rangtira, Tita Enoka kneels down next to the cooked pigs and
baskets of taro that were used to feed the many who attended the
opening of the Ruatonga Meeting House in 1957. Tita is the husband
of Terangi Wichman.
Left: (from left)
Tiniura Wichmans' daughter Tina and May Ravetai-Wichman, the wife
of Tiniuras' son Robert. Tiniura is the son of Henry Wichman and
his last wife Tenii Taraupoko Tekovi |
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Weaving
class at Ngatangiia School in 1940s
Saturday 19 July: |
This week's Memory Lane photo of
Ngatangiia School girls displaying their hand woven kits was taken
in the mid 1940s.
At far right is the girls' class teacher Iritia Tairi Iro, who is
now retired and lives in Titikaveka. She told Cook Islands News
that she was about 16 years old when the photo was taken.
Ngatangiia School no longer exists but some of the classrooms
still exist at the current Apii Te Uki Ou School.
Iro says that the girls in the photo are from all grades, and she
taught them how to weave their kits.
While Iro at that stage wasn't a qualified teacher, she and other
older girls were known as class teachers and were called on to
take classes such as weaving and physical education.
The photo was provided to Cook Islands News by a Memory Lane
enthusiast who wished to remain anonymous.
- Matariki Wilson |
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Mangaia welcomes NZ Governor General
Saturday 5 July:
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Visitors to Mangaia in the 1940s and 50s were few and far between.
But when visitors, especially dignitaries visited, the island went all out to welcome them and make them feel at home.
On this particular occasion the-then Governor General of New Zealand Lord Galway and his wife Lady Galway visited
Mangaia.
Arriving by schooner, they were escorted to shore by Resident Agent Hugh Hickling and his wife.
They too had to endure the treacherous flat boat ride through the gap in the reef.
According to Wendy Cooper (nee Hickling), who provided the photos, the couple arrived in Mangaia at low tide.
Because it was low tide the couple had to be transported on a traditional pa'ata across the exposed reef to the Oneroa field.
At Oneroa they were greeted by the entire population of Mangaia who wore their Sunday best whites.
Cooper remembers the dance the Mangaians performed because it wasn't a traditional dance but more a European type of dance. |

Arriving at low tide, Lady
and Lord Galway had to travel by traditional pa'ata over the
exposed reef to the Oneroa landing where the entire population of
Mangaia greeted them.
Standing in straight lines the performers began singing and waving little Union Jack flags as the Galways passed by, making their way to the cenotaph near the Oneroa landing.
After a formal ceremony at the cenotaph the marching band started up.
The traditional drums were used for the march including a massive pa'u drum that needed two men to carry it and one to beat it.
According to Cooper, Lady Galway did not like her accommodation on land and asked to be taken back to the schooner where she spent the night while the island celebrated their visit.
Matariki Wilson |
Mangaian performers in the
middle of dancing, singing and waving small Union Jack Flags as
Lady and Lord Galway passed by.

Mangaian soldiers and men line
up to form a guard of honour for Lady and Lord Galway. |
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The
day a truck arrived on Mangaia
Saturday 28
June:
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All hands on deck, taken in the mid 1940s
shows just how much manpower was needed to transport a truck to the
island. Apart from keeping the flat boat balanced, there was also the
treacherous task of dodging the reef and coral heads in the lagoon.
On
this particular occasion, about a dozen of the island's fittest and
strongest men helped winch the truck from the schooner on to the flat
boat with two outriggers.
Once
the vehicle was secured on the flat boat, the men paddled back to shore,
all the while making sure to keep the boat balanced and dodging the reef
and coral heads in the lagoon.
Once they reached the shore, a rope
was flung out to the boat where more men on the land helped pull the
boat and its cargo as far up on dry land as possible.
The
truck would then be rolled up on to the flat land where it was
reassembled before the entire island would take turns riding on
it.
-
Matariki Wilson
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Getting
supplies on and off the island of Mangaia before it had a wharf was
treacherous business.
These
photos taken in the mid 1940s, part of a collection supplied by Wendy
Cooper, show just how much effort was put into offloading cargo from
schooners and ships that docked outside the reef.
Mangaians
became skilled at 'shooting' gaps in the reef on canoes and flat boats,
however it was always tricky, especially when the cargo was trucks and
tractors.
This
sequence of photos shows just how much work was put into preparing for
offloading a truck.
According
to Cooper, the truck would have been stripped of its shell and that was
transported to the island separately from the core of the vehicle.

Mangaian men push the flat boat with its precious cargo through the
shallow water making sure to keep the boat balanced.
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On land more men would get ready to
tow the boat and her cargo as far up on to dry land as possible.

Mangaians became very skilful at 'shooting' gaps in the reef to offload
cargo from visiting schooners and ships and transporting the cargo back
to land.
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This article
published in the New Zealand Free Lance newspaper between 1942 and
1945 is about the orange industry on the island. |
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Memory Lane Archives |
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